H.B. man goes missing, father dies during search

A Huntington Beach man went missing during a family hunting trip in New Mexico on Monday and during the search his 70-year-old father died from a suspected heart attack.

Officials said family members and friends of Steven Lockhart, 43, and Ray Lockhart, 70, went on an elk hunting trip in the Gila National Forest, an area popular for hunting because of the abundance of large animals as prey.

Steven Lockhart went missing from the Pueblo Park Campground around midnight Monday after a family disagreement, according to witnesses, said New Mexico State Police Sgt. Emmanuel Gutierrez.

About a dozen volunteer search-and-rescue members and state police officials searched the forest, assisted by helicopters and all-terrain vehicles.

Ray Lockhart searched for his son for two days before he fell ill and collapsed in the same campground.

“They were able to work they're best on him for about 20 minutes but they were unable to revive him,” Gutierrez said of the search-and-rescue workers.

Gutierrez did not know the details of the determined cause of the death, but said he believes that it was a suspected heart attack.

State officials received reports of a sighting Tuesday of a man matching the height, weight and facial hair description of Steven Lockhart near Highway 180, a remote freeway near the area where Steven disappeared.

Tracking experts confirmed that nearby tracks belong to Lockhart.

Family members told officials that Steven Lockhart had disappeared from family gatherings before after disputes, so after the trackers confirmed he was reportedly alive and near a freeway authorities suspended their search efforts Thursday morning, Gutierrez said.

New Mexico State Police are continuing to investigate the matter as a missing-person report and have forest rangers on alert, as well as police officials in the closest town of Socorro, N.M., about 250 miles from the campground.

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